FLASH FICTION TUESDAY: The Coven’s Curse

Now on Tuesdays…at least for the foreseeable future…welcome to Flash Fiction Tuesday. In case you don’t know what flash fiction is, it is an extremely short story (sometimes created in 100 words or less) with a beginning, middle, and an ending.

But my case, I write flash fiction with an open ending. I allow my readers to draw their own conclusion as to what happens. Sit back, relax, and take a moment to find out why the hair is rising on the back of Jake’s neck in The Coven’s Curse…

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Jake pushed his sweat drenched hair out of his eyes and stopped to catch his breath. Today’s run felt good. He actually felt like he was running toward something. Maybe the dark cloud hanging over him all these months was slowly beginning to dissipate? Maybe this afternoon’s meeting with Mary would finally give him some answers to the questions robbing his sleep every night.

He was about to resume his run when Jake noticed something odd about the stand of trees just ahead of him. There appeared to be strange markings on each tree, a crude hexagon shape with a blackened star in the center. One after another the trees were marked as if pointing deeper into the forest to some unknown destination.

Curiosity can be a dangerous companion. It can sometimes tempt a person into doing things they wouldn’t normally do, but Jake was no stranger to temptation. Stepping off the beaten path, he followed the line of trees until he came to a small clearing filled with what appeared to be headstones. Who would put a cemetery in middle of the woods?

Jake kneeled in front one of the graves. Time and the elements had washed away most of the wording but he still managed to make out a name…Bishop. Stone after stone revealed the names of the nineteen souls buried there…Wardwell, Pudeator, Wildes, Proctor, and others. But when he got to the last grave Jake felt his breath catch in his throat as he stared at the name on the roughened stone…Mary Eastey.

An unusual last name to be sure. One you wouldn’t hear too often, much less see on a headstone. Maybe that was why it was so startling to Jake since that was the name of the strange lady he was supposed to be meeting later that day…

Now it’s your turn…add a comment, add to the story, or even share with your friends…;)

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LUNADAR: Homeward Bound

Ruler by day, a reluctant pirate by night, 18-year-old Princess Ariana fights for her subjects in the waterfall city of LUNADAR. In a kingdom surrounded by fairies and mermaids, and ravaged by deadly Drundles, only a chosen few are trusted to guard her daughter, Candra, as the secret heir to the throne.
But it only takes one ill-fated meeting for Ariana to suddenly be plunged into an escalating web of secrets found in her father’s journal, a deadly kidnapping, and an ever-weakening resolve to turn her back on the call of the merman’s song.
With Ariana’s world falling apart and the future of LUNADAR at stake, how will she bring her father’s murderer to justice and fulfill a deathbed promise to protect Lunadar’s legacy?

$16.99

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International best selling, award-winning author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a ‘ninja’ writer of children’s picture books, chapter books, young adult novels and inspirational essays by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books, and the host of WRITERLY WISDOM, a resource series for writers. Donna is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and Children’s Book Insider. She is a lover of dark chocolate, going to the beach and adding to her growing book collection. Donna’s latest book, LUNADAR: Homeward Bound (a YA fantasy), is now available in eBook and print form from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, and other online retailers.